How not to run a Website

I'm trying to do some research. A couple of days ago, it looked as though this would be simplicity itself--an online archive available for a reasonable monthly fee, with the first month at a loss-leader $1. The price was advertised on the front page of the Website, which also has a "login" option. As a bonus, they offered Web hosting services.

I tried to subscribe. I couldn't find a button or field to do so, and the only thing the FAQ had to say on the subject was that it was credit card only.

I emailed tech support, which told me "oh, that's now being handled by this-other-company, here's how to contact them, and you can no longer change your credit card information on our site." Fine, but that's not what I wanted to know, so I emailed back, asking more explicitly "then how do I access this archive?"

The answer is: you can't. They've discontinued it, but not bothered to take the time to revise the Web page for said service. Shutting down a for-pay archive service, well, it's their business. Continuing to advertise said service after it's been shut down (effective 1 January 2006, not three days ago) is annoyingly stupid.

Fortunately, the NY Public Library also has the material I want, mostly on microfilm. Or so their Web page says. I'll find out in a bit: I set this morning's schedule on the assumption that I could eat breakfast and then dive in research, rather than eat breakfast, take the subway to midtown, and dive in; hence, I still need to eat and get dressed before heading out.

How not to run a Website

I'm trying to do some research. A couple of days ago, it looked as though this would be simplicity itself--an online archive available for a reasonable monthly fee, with the first month at a loss-leader $1. The price was advertised on the front page of the Website, which also has a "login" option. As a bonus, they offered Web hosting services.

I tried to subscribe. I couldn't find a button or field to do so, and the only thing the FAQ had to say on the subject was that it was credit card only.

I emailed tech support, which told me "oh, that's now being handled by this-other-company, here's how to contact them, and you can no longer change your credit card information on our site." Fine, but that's not what I wanted to know, so I emailed back, asking more explicitly "then how do I access this archive?"

The answer is: you can't. They've discontinued it, but not bothered to take the time to revise the Web page for said service. Shutting down a for-pay archive service, well, it's their business. Continuing to advertise said service after it's been shut down (effective 1 January 2006, not three days ago) is annoyingly stupid.

Fortunately, the NY Public Library also has the material I want, mostly on microfilm. Or so their Web page says. I'll find out in a bit: I set this morning's schedule on the assumption that I could eat breakfast and then dive in research, rather than eat breakfast, take the subway to midtown, and dive in; hence, I still need to eat and get dressed before heading out.

General reminder

As it says on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Don't Panic. (I'm going to spare us all the Web's attempt at large friendly letters.)

General reminder

As it says on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Don't Panic. (I'm going to spare us all the Web's attempt at large friendly letters.)

Chocolate orange ice cream

This is a kludge of a couple of recipes, so I'm recording it, even though it's still chilling and I won't know whether it worked for hours.


1 cup dark chocolate, grated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk, heated to bubbling around the edges
2 cups heavy cream
(scant) teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted
2/3 capful orange extract

Stir the chocolate and sugar in a large heatproof bowl (I used one of the Pyrex bowls my mother gave me when she emigrated--I think they were a wedding present, back in 1955).

Pour hot milk onto chocolate mixture. Mix until the chocolate dissolves--I stirred briefly with a butter knife, that being what I'd used to mix the chocolate and sugar together (I'd used it to even the 1/2 measure of the sugar), and then used an electric mixer at the lowest setting for a minute or two.

Add the cream and the vanilla extract, and mix in. Then add the orange concentrate and, on a whim, the orange extract. Mix those in.

Put the bowl in the freezer to chill--the recipe in the ice cream maker handbook says two hours. Then pour it into the ice cream maker, set it for an hour, and see what happens.

The basic choolate ice cream instructions are in the booklet that came with the ice cream maker; the orange juice concentrate idea is from the web.

ETA: This worked. It's in the freezer now, except for the bits that are in me. *smile* Addenda/thoughts below.

The soft-frozen (just out of the ice cream machine) form of this is good. I expect it will be better when a bit colder.

More orange would be good. I think I should increase the orange extract quantity next time, or try orange zest--but adding lemon zest to lemon ice cream directly led to clumping, and the alternative of steeping orange zest in hot milk, straining it out, and then proceeding to adding the chocolate has two problems. The first is that it's simply an extra step. The second is that the chocolate might not dissolve as well--that technique is one I found in recipes for orange ice cream, not chocolate orange, so they aren't concerned with that.

I might try kightp's suggestion of a small amount of Grand Marnier, if I can get the bottle open, which I really ought to test sometime, because if it won't open, there's no point keeping it. (It's part of a small bottle that I bought some years back to use in chocolate mousse; I then took a long hiatus from making mousse.) I don't care for ice cream that tastes like alcohol, though.

Now that it's fully chilled, there is if anything too strong an orange flavor. I might try using slightly less orange concentrate, or reduce or remove the orange extract, next time. cattitude seems sure it has too much orange; I'm not sure, but there's definitely enough.

Chocolate orange ice cream

This is a kludge of a couple of recipes, so I'm recording it, even though it's still chilling and I won't know whether it worked for hours.


1 cup dark chocolate, grated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk, heated to bubbling around the edges
2 cups heavy cream
(scant) teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted
2/3 capful orange extract

Stir the chocolate and sugar in a large heatproof bowl (I used one of the Pyrex bowls my mother gave me when she emigrated--I think they were a wedding present, back in 1955).

Pour hot milk onto chocolate mixture. Mix until the chocolate dissolves--I stirred briefly with a butter knife, that being what I'd used to mix the chocolate and sugar together (I'd used it to even the 1/2 measure of the sugar), and then used an electric mixer at the lowest setting for a minute or two.

Add the cream and the vanilla extract, and mix in. Then add the orange concentrate and, on a whim, the orange extract. Mix those in.

Put the bowl in the freezer to chill--the recipe in the ice cream maker handbook says two hours. Then pour it into the ice cream maker, set it for an hour, and see what happens.

The basic choolate ice cream instructions are in the booklet that came with the ice cream maker; the orange juice concentrate idea is from the web.

ETA: This worked. It's in the freezer now, except for the bits that are in me. *smile* Addenda/thoughts below.

The soft-frozen (just out of the ice cream machine) form of this is good. I expect it will be better when a bit colder.

More orange would be good. I think I should increase the orange extract quantity next time, or try orange zest--but adding lemon zest to lemon ice cream directly led to clumping, and the alternative of steeping orange zest in hot milk, straining it out, and then proceeding to adding the chocolate has two problems. The first is that it's simply an extra step. The second is that the chocolate might not dissolve as well--that technique is one I found in recipes for orange ice cream, not chocolate orange, so they aren't concerned with that.

I might try kightp's suggestion of a small amount of Grand Marnier, if I can get the bottle open, which I really ought to test sometime, because if it won't open, there's no point keeping it. (It's part of a small bottle that I bought some years back to use in chocolate mousse; I then took a long hiatus from making mousse.) I don't care for ice cream that tastes like alcohol, though.

Now that it's fully chilled, there is if anything too strong an orange flavor. I might try using slightly less orange concentrate, or reduce or remove the orange extract, next time. cattitude seems sure it has too much orange; I'm not sure, but there's definitely enough.